The King Of Birds
By Ross Dupree
Copyright 2013 Ross Dupree
Cassian always liked the city at this time of day. Early morning, the golden-orange light of dawn. Streets nearly empty, at least in this part of town. Those few who were out were intent on the tasks at hand, their attentions largely turned inwards. No one out merely to be seen, no one prowling about looking for an easy mark. People with purpose.
Correndrum was the capital city of the nation of the same name, and served as home to King Viron and his court. An important city, full of important people. Cassian liked the sense of belonging in a place where decisions were made and goals were accomplished, but he did welcome the chance to be free of those who were perhaps overly aware of their own importance.
Cassian saw another apprentice departing on his market day errands and nodded in greeting. Those who did the real work had to get early starts.
He turned onto Ascension Street, which was lined with luxurious and fashionable shops. He passed Jasmin's, candlemaker to the nobility and to those with pretensions to the same. The smell of exotically-scented waxes filled the damp morning air. In a way, the chandlery was in competition with Cassian's employer, Master Linus. Linus's laboratory provided all manner of incense, carefully crafted to provide Correndrum's upper-class homes with pleasant atmospheres. In fact, the income from such sales provided much of the funding for Linus's more esoteric experiments.
Like many of the shops in the Empyrean Park district, the family who owned the chandlery also ran a shop on the Promenade, in Barrowgate, a more common area of the city. That shop was a much noisier and more crowded affair, with fewer expensive scents in evidence. Truth be told, of course, Cassian suspected many of the candles sold here were made there. Not that either the sellers or the buyers would ever admit to knowing that. Appearances meant much here. Cassian sighed.
He'd be headed to the Promenade later, to obtain the more prosaic supplies needed for the laboratory. First, though, the market. Get there early and take his pick of the various herbs and other substances Master Linus needed for his work.
A lone morning patrolman walked his route in the cobblestone plaza around Coronation Fountain, the taverns surrounding the square shuttered and silent. Not that Cassian had time to visit them when they were open, not these last several months. Master Linus had kept him busy with his grand project. Wash these flasks, crush those minerals, mix these concoctions. Drudgework. Necessary for the experiments, but drudgework nonetheless.
Cassian was learning the alchemical arts by fits and starts. A process for distilling impurities here, a method of obtaining reactions there. He was quite quick on the uptake, but Master Linus never explained more than was required to complete the next step.
An alchemist trained himself, the Master simply provided a framework. It was left to Cassian to pore over the shelves of books in the Master's library and to try to grasp the grander plan using his own resources. Cassian had often been told he was the most promising apprentice in the kingdom, but his progress towards mastery was slower than he liked. He could only study outside the actual laboratory since Linus made certain that the books stayed as far from the chemicals as possible. "These books are very old, Cassian, and they got that way by staying away from flames and clumsy hands holding bottles of corrosive liquids."
Cassian left the Empyrean Park district, crossing the broad canal that separated it from the city's main market square. Even at this early hour, the market was full of the sights and smells from the city's farmlands, the surrounding countryside, and from much further afield. The variety available in the market was a testament to the wealth and power of Correndrum and the flow of goods that passed through it.
Today, though, Cassian was focused on items from the nearby forests, the plants Master Linus had requested. A veteran of many market days, he knew who was most likely to have which items, so he headed first to the stall where the harvester Sera usually set up.
Sera wasn't one to crowd onto the main rows of the market. She liked to have her bushels and baskets and pouches spread across several tables where she'd have more room to display them to their full benefit. The freshness of her harvests was the reason she was sought after by those who appreciated such qualities. Traffic was lower in the back of the square, but her customers knew where to find her, and besides, fewer passersby meant less damage to the plants. And fewer that would "disappear" as well. Market days were always a little chaotic, and there were always a few out to help themselves to a few select items. Cassian often noticed them, but never drew attention to the thieves. Why involve himself in such matters?
"Once again, you're my first customer! The best way to start the day," Sera said as he approached. She smiled, her face bright in the morning sun.
"Hello," Cassian said.
He adjusted his apprentice's cap, more aware of it than usual. He was a lanky young man, and always felt that his broad cap looked absurd perched on top of his thin frame. Still, with his lively green eyes and his friendly face, he usually got along fine with strangers. But Sera's presence made him slightly self-conscious.
Sera was tall, with long dark hair. Her easy comfort with herself made her stand in sharp contrast to the oh-so-carefully presented women Cassian saw in the shop district. It didn't help that an alchemist's apprentice rarely got out of the laboratory to talk with women of any sort.
He didn't come to Sera's tables first just because she was such a good harvester. He forced himself to concentrate on searching the tables for the plants he needed.
"Do you have nightgold this week? The weather has been just right for it."
"Back here. I kept them in the basket, out of the light."
She waved him into the stall, behind the table with her.
"I knew someone of your profession would be asking for it first thing," she said, grinning at his slightly askew cap. "The early risers earn their rewards."
She lifted the lid on the basket slightly, inviting him to lean over and look inside. He was aware of her face close to his as they peeked inside at the delicate flowers of the nocturnal blooms. He sniffed the almost sickly sweet smell that meant the plants had been harvested as recently as last night.
"It seems the late night hunters reap rewards as well. These are as fresh as I have ever seen." Cassian was more comfortable talking about the quality of ingredients than any other sort of small talk.
"They won't last long with the rabbits as hungry as they are this time of year, and today was marketday." She smiled again. "And I know they're wanted."
"I'll take all you have."
"Then take them in the basket. Safer for them that way. You can bring the basket back tomorrow."
She lifted the basket to the table, her hip brushing against his as she did so. Cassian started. He'd had a romance or two before apprenticing began consuming all his time, but something about Sera made any touch between them feel stunning.
At just that moment Nicholas, a perfumer's apprentice, arrived at the table. Cassian snapped back to his errand. Nicholas would be looking for several of the same plants he would.
He worked over the tables methodically, quickly finding the best specimens of each plant on his list, carefully wrapping them in the special waxy paper Master Linus had provided and stacking them on top of the basket of nightgold. By now Sera was talking to several customers who had arrived, but her eyes always met his when he looked up from the tables.
He found most of the materials he was looking for. The remainder he may find at another harvester's table, a few he would not find at all. Master Linus always wanted things that were rarely, if ever, in the market. Correndrum was large, and her reach was far, but the desires
of an alchemist reached further still.
He paid Sera, his hand lingering against hers perhaps longer than was necessary.
"I'll be back early in the morning with your basket."-
"I shall be watching for you." A final smile from her as he walked away.
Cassian finished up his market shopping quickly, happy to find a seller with a few of the small lizards Master Linus had kept on his list for month. They lived only at the top of a particularly remote mountain where there was little else to attract harvesters, only barren rock and thin air.
He also found some of the peculiar sunfire moss liked to use for seasoning his own meals. It had fallen out of favor on the tables of the courtly class, but he had discovered ways of preparing it using laboratory techniques that sharpened the flavor, and he was now practically addicted to it.
Back at the laboratory, Cassian began the preparation of the morning's purchases.
First he made a leaching solution for the nightgold. It would have to sit for an hour before it was ready and he wanted to get the flowers soaking while they were still so very fresh. He wondered if Sera had picked it last night knowing he would be the one to purchase